Oooh a b!tch fest, this is my kinda topic! 

I agree with the gm/people leaving. I understand RL takes priority over games, but I think SOME notice would be in order. I've lost so many games due to people just dissapearing. Even if they show up a week or two later and apologize, that's fine, but I've never seen it.

Also I've been guilty of character making a certain way. I've been trying to branch out and make different characters with different looks, ages, backgrounds, morals, etc. I don't like having a specific character for EVERY game. You may have a character you like that you want to use over and over again, but to me that is REALLY annoying because not every character fits into every setting and when people try to force them into it, it usually doesn't work.

I've been in a few games where this girl has a character she really likes that is in every game, whether it was DnD, Call of Cthulhu, superheroes, whatever, it's been the same girl. And in some of those games, she worked well, but in the others, she didn't and then the player got pissed off because her character wasn't going along well and then she left.

That's just my personal preference, if you got your favorite character, that's fine, but understand that they can't fit into every situation and forcing it will only end badly.

I could vent more but I won't bore everyone.